Life belt



1927. May 17 ll.. MULLEN ET Ax.

. LIFE BELT Filed Feb. v. 1927 n W 0 F )u W ,/f ,A A ww J a m M v/// m Maf .o mw i .:illff f s. om,

0 M, 7 my 8 1 w Patented May 17, 1927.

punir? eras .ear f r ache.

.LEO -MULLENAND Josar'Hy JAoKEvloH, or contraierneute,Y'rnnner:rivaivia` BELT.

Applicatienv led February 7,192?. Serie-.i No. 166,438.

This invention relatesy to new and useful improvements in life belts, and has lfor its primary object to provide a device of this character consisting .of a normally deflated air bag constructed for attachment around the waist and having arranged therein ar posed within a small container so that the same may be conveniently carried v in the pocket. I

Yet another object is to provide a life belt of this character that is extremely simple of construction, inexpensive of manufacture and one that is well adapted for life preserving purposes.

With the foregoing and other objects in view as the nature of the invention will be better understood, the same comprises the novel form, combination and arrangement of parts hereinafter more fully described, shown in the accompanying drawing and claimed.

In the drawing wherein like reference characters indicate correspondingT parts throughout the several views:

Figure 1 is a fragmentary plan of a lite belt constructed in accordance with the present invention.

Figure 2 is a. fragmentary section disclosing more clearly the construction of the compressed air container.

Figure 3 is a section through a card board or metallic package within which the belt may be disposed when in a rolled condition, and

Figure 4 is an enlarged horizontal section taken substantially upon the linee-4f of Figure 2 and looking downwardly in the direction of the arrows for more clearly disclosing the inlet valve construction for the air container of the belt.

Now having particular reference to the drawing, our novel device consists of a flexiblel non-elastic air receiving belt 5 of predetermined length and width, preferably oit' rubberized silk and having at itsA opposite ends, straps 'or other suitable means 6 whereby thev belt may be secured around the waist of the wearer.

Arranged ccntraily within this beltp is a tubular 'air container 7 through a central threaded opening in the upper end of which is threaded an open ended sleeve 8, that extends throughthe top of the belt 5l 'as clearly disclosed in Fi0ure2, this sleeve Abeing rigidly-secured within thek end of the-con-- tainer 7, and belt 5 by a suitable disc nut 9, while threaded upon the extreme `end vtl'iereot'- is a closure cap 10; Rigidly' mounted within the interior ot this sleeve substantially intermediate the ends th'ereofis a i spider 1'1 through the center'of which loosely passes a pin 12 having a plate head 13 upon its llower end and upon the inner face of which is disposed a Washer 1li for abutting the lower end of the sleeve to prevent the discharge of the air within the container through said sleeve. Surrounding the pin l12 between the washer 13 and spider 11 is a retractile coil spring 15 secured at itsends to the spider and to the pin for normally drawing the pin upwardly through the sleeve so that the washer 13 will firmly engagethe lower end ot the sleeve for a purpose just described.

Rigidly arranged upon the lower end of the container 7 is a cap 16 formed to provide a central socket 17 ,that engages within the container as clearly disclosed in Figure 2. The back wall of this socket is formed with au' outlet openings 18, while slidably arranged through a central opening in said back wall is a valve pin 19 upon the inner end ot which is a plate head 20 upon the inner face of which is a washer 21 for disposition over the openings fory preventing the escapage of they air from the container into the belt. The outer end of the pin 19 is equipped with a thumb button 22, while surrounding the pin betweeen the button and back wall of the socket 17 is an expansible coil spring 23 fornormally forcing thepin downwardly so as to tightly maintain. the openings 18 closed.

Obviously however, when the belt is ar'' ranged around the waist of the wearer it will onlyy be necessary to press the linger against the belt 5 directly beneath the but'- ton 22 so that the button may be raised for uncovering the openings 1 8 whereupon the air will escape from the container into the Q i Y 1,629,290

belt 5 for completely charging the same with the compressed air that has been previously injected into the container through the valve at the upper end thereof.

If desired, the beltmay be rolled as indicated in Figure 3 and disposed Within a suitable card board or metal package 24C so that the same may be conveniently carried in the pocket.

It will therefore be seen that We have provided a highly novel, simple and inexpensive lite belt that Well adapted for all the purposes heretofore designated and even though we have herein shown and described the invention as consisting of certain detail structural elements, it is nevertheless to be understood that some chang-es may be made therein Without affecting the spirit and scope of the appended claim.

Having thus described the invention, what We claim isz-q 1 In a life belt of the character described,

' a iexible non-elastic air bag of predeter- `mined diameter, means at the opposite ends ofthe bag :tor permit-ting of the securing ofthe same around the Waist of a wearer, a

compressed air tank arranged Within the bag, means in the upper end of the container extending through the upper edge of the vbag for normally closing the interior 0i the container to the atmosphere but yto'permit the injection of compressed air into the container, an inwardly directed socket Within the llower end of th-e container having air'escape openings in its inner end, a'

valve stem slidaloly disposed Within a central opening in the innerWall o't said socket, a head upon the inner end of the pin, a washer upon the inner face of the head for engagement over the air discharge openings,

a iinger 'button upon the outer end of the pin whereby the head may be forced 'inr wardly of the openings to permit thepassage ot the air therethrough into the bag and an expansible coil spring surrounding the pin between the head and the inner wall of said socket fornormally maintain-V ing the valve closed.

In' testimony whereof We affix our slgnatures.

LEO MULLEN. JOSEPH JAGKEVICH. 

